Go Full Time August 26th!!!!

[bakers-cottage]

Hi all,
New in here, but just thought would share with you that we are going full time August 26th! Just bought a Lunar Lexon 640EB 2005 model.
Selling up at the minute, we are writing a blog about our experiences - you can find us at http://ourlifeinacaravan.blogspot.com and watch our haphazard attempt at it.
We decided to write a blog on it as we found very few when doing our research, unless you want to go totally off grid (no thanks) or live in an articulated lorry and cross china! Just two normal (ish) people, both working full time, and a dog!
So there you will find us, any tips, hints or advice will be welcome - good or bad!
We are not new to caravanning but as they say you learn something everyday!
Jools & Mikki

 

[Rick1]

Excellent look forward to reading your blog You are now book marked

 

[Mel]

Good luck with your life style change.
mel

 

[Surfer]

There is a very long thread on Permanent Caravanning on thsi forum which has all the information required. I recommend keeping the name of your long term site to yourselves as ther are many malicious people about. We did it for just under three years, but we never sold all our furniture. We kept all the electrics and stored it which worked our fine. Unfortunately a sudden change in my health forced us to give up permanent camping. We stayed on the same site for the whole time with a break of one month each year. There are many others doing the same but prefer not to divulge any information.

 

[bakers-cottage]

There is a very long thread on Permanent Caravanning on thsi forum which has all the information required. I recommend keeping the name of your long term site to yourselves as ther are many malicious people about. We did it for just under three years, but we never sold all our furniture. We kept all the electrics and stored it which worked our fine. Unfortunately a sudden change in my health forced us to give up permanent camping. We stayed on the same site for the whole time with a break of one month each year. There are many others doing the same but prefer not to divulge any information.

Thanks, not too sure why we have to be so secrative, we are doing nothing illegal, we both work in professional occupations, pay tax etc, so not sure why anyone would need to be malicious? We do not want to stay on any site any longer than 2 weeks maximum, we have just planned out till the end of september and the longest in any one place is 10 days!

Just found the thread you were talking about and spent time reading through it, from what I can make out the people that have taken up full timing sound happy and content and the ones that think its a bad idea appear to moan alot! But maybe thats just my perception!?
Regardless of what people say or think we are still going for it and cant wait!
I think I read somewhere, all though could be wrong that you have a lunar lexon 640, which is what we have just bought, so any tips/quirks on this van would be greatly appreciated.
regards

 

[Guest]

I think you are being a little unfair is judging that those who have done it, are all for it, and those who haven't are 'moaning'.,

Not the case. What I think is the main cause for concern is that no one who has gone full timing has described the full circle. By that I mean what happens when you get to an advanced age, one partner gets sick or worse and how you then respond. Similarly, and I quote from people whom I have met who have 'emigrated' to France or Spain for many years, and now wish to return to the UK. Why? firslty the novellty has worn off and well many have financial issues, but in the main the primary reason was lack of contact with family and any similarly speaking people. Also they found that the house in the country was a nightmare in winter.

OK, caravanning is not the same but may of the same social issues will arise, especially in later years. We met people fulltiming in caravans in Spain who were desperately telling everyone they met that 'they were happy'. One wonders why.

To anyone who wishes to go full timing, my advice is, enjoy yourselves but always leave a 'back door open'.

 

[bakers-cottage]

As regarding old age we are both in our early 40's with no dependants so fingers crossed we should stay active for a few years yet!
From reading the other thread it certainly appeared to be the case that those that were either considering or were full timing were being knocked for it. This is my opinion based on what I read.
As with most forums you always expect some negativity, this of course is human nature, so to me is not a problem.
We dont intend to be doing this forever, but it gives us enough time to save for our next business venture. Once this has been achieved we can carry out our next long term plan.
Living in a house is an endless drain on our money at the moment. This can be put to better use by doing what we intend to do by full timing.
Full timing will not suit everyone, we all have different needs and requirements. Im afraid in this climate the bricks and mortar which everyone so strived to achieve is, if you ask, a mill stone round peoples necks. My only wish is that interests rates do not start to creep back up to the 15% mark again, or there will be a flood of homeless people through reposession!
However, like the original person who started the other thread, we are not looking at the social implications,we are more concerned with what is happening right this very minute, long term - I could get hit by a bus tomorrow! As a result we are only looking for advice from those that are actually doing it, or done it and not the arm chair critics.
Again, as with the other thread I do not feel that we have to justify to anyone why we are doing this, in fact by putting this thread on here has made me wonder why I bothered with it in the in the first place i was rather hoping for some constructive advice!
If we all stayed put and didnt try new ventures, man would of never got to the moon, the car not invented, and we would be sat around in a cave!
Personally if it doesnt work, we can try something else, but at least Im not afraid to give it a good go!
You only get one shot at life, unless there is something you know that we dont, and we intend to live it our way, and go all out to make it happen.
I really do not want to get into a debate, about social issues and all the what if's.

 

[Rick1]

Hi Jools & Mikki
I agree with everything you have said, I havent done it myself but if the oppertunity came along I would, I have 3 daughters and my wife and I spent every holiday with them, when they all left home we were going to do all the things we wanted to do as we were only in our fourties, We actualy had a weekend away on our own came home on the Monday night and on the Tuesday my wife suffered a brain heamorage. after severl setbacks and her ending up as a quadrapegic I had to sell our home as she had to go to a nursing home
sadly she died after 4 years this was back in 97 but if i could turn the clock back we would have done things then and not waited,
go for it you never know whats next in your life
Rick

 

[bakers-cottage]

Hi Rick, sorry to hear about your wife, - cant even begin to imagine what it was like for you all!
We just feel that for us its the right thing to do, and cant wait!
I spent a good few years serving Queen and country so know all about ruffing it, luckily we have the caravan to do it in, and in relative comfort. We still would of done it in our old Abbey GT 212 (1984) 2 berth! As that was the original plan! But working it all out it made sense to upgrade!
Must admit that after reading through the other thread that even though this is a caravan related forum there are still people that think the idea is bad and that there should be so many problems associated with it. I would of expected that from people who dont spend time in a caravan, but not from those who do! All seemed a little strange to me, but maybe thats just me reading it wrong!
We could stay where we are and do nothing, but that will not achieve our goals, id much rather fail after trying it, than to of not tried it in the first place!
So, thanks Rick for your support, it is very much appreciated.
J & M

 

[Surfer]

You may have a Lexon, but I doubt if it is the 640EB as the EB is a six berth and is not a 640. We had a 640L which has an island bed and an L shape lounge with bathroom one side and the shower opposite. As you are moving every 2 weeks I assume that you are either not erecting an awning or are just having a potch awning up? If you are erecting a full awning, what are you going to do with it when you have to take it down wet? We had a garage available to us locally so no issue there and we used a porch awning in the winter as we never moved for 11 months of the year as too much hassle. Eventually you will get tired of yet again packing up after two weeks and moving especially in winter.
Every time you change sites it means starting all over again making new friends. Staying on one site you will build up a comradeship and every one then looks out for one another. We were doing it with 4 dogs and a cat. Post went to a relative and vehicles were registered to that address. Insurance was to that address for the vehicles, but the kept over night bit was at the site so no issue. Caravan insurance was the most diificult becasue if you mention permanent, you are history and premiums shoot up or they will not insure you.
When we first did it the rental was £240 a year which went up to £280 the next and then £320 the following but the electric became metered adding on another £40 per month as we had to pay their rates so be careful. Then you have your gas heating which you will need in the awning in the winter. We used to use a 45kg bottle every 2 -3 weeks. As we never moved most of the time we were also able to use a 19kg bottle thus saving a considerable amount of money. This used to last us nearly three to four months as it was not used for heating.
Also better to make sure that the site has laundry facilties as it is a hassle running back and forth to town to do washing and back to caravan to do ironing. I recommend that you buy a small freezer otherwise you will be running back & forth to town.
I am not trying to be negative as we would probably still be living in ours except that I ended up with a severe health problem. we are a bit surprised that you are moving into the caravan virtually straight after collecting it. We had ours for over a year before we moved into it. That gave us time to get it sorted as there is nothing worse that encountering a problem and it needs to go into the dealer, but the issue is that you are living in it and need to empty it. I wish you all the best and hope that you have thought this through thoroughly because if you have then you should have no issues.

 

[jonah]

Hello Jools & Mikki,
Just wanted to say " Go for it "!
We are too in our early forties and would LOVE to do the same thing, but we do have dependants, children still at home and my father who is at the moment living with us and has dementia, so unfortunately at this point in time it is not an option for us. My husband and I have often said how we would love to sell up, and do very similar to you.
I look forward to reading your blog and wish you all the very best.
Take care and best wishes,
Jonah.

 

[Steve L]

Hi Jools & mikki.

If you've read the permanent caravanning topic, you'll realise that I'm already living the alternative lifestyle and loving it. The reason we keep our location private is quite simple. We want to keep our warden happy and although we do have to move to a winter site, we want to come back. Also there are some tourist's who think they are above their station and do try to influence the site owner to kick us off as undesirables. Unfortunately for them at present they get told not to return.

I was working fulltime until 18 months ago when arthritis rendered my left shoulder no good to work with. After 3 botched keyhole surgeries, I'm now 5 wks away from the open surgery to take my shoulder apart and resurface the joint and rebuild it. I had it done in 2006 to the right shoulder and it worked fine. We are staying in our home county so change of doctors etc are not necessary. I am claiming ESA as I am self employed and that is the only way to get any sick pay. I had to go through their appeals process which is a right farce and after 61 weeks I got the full amount (£89). I can also claim upto £40 p/wk for ground rent of our seasonal pitch. Bu tafter that, your on your own, so while your both working save regularly so that you have a contingencey fund.
We use a friend's address for post, but you can indefinately have post for you from your old address held at the local sorting office for free, but they don't like it and persistantly try to get rid of you. Just get them to check the rule book and you should be fine.

We have applied for social housing (a council house), but as we have got a bed and shelter, they deem us to be safe and well provided for, so we are bottom of the ladder, below young single mums and refugee's, get my drift?

I've posted loads of winter tips and having endured the worst winter in 30 years, and we only had one day of hell. That was moving sites in 7" of snow.

All I can say is go for it, have fun doing so and treat every situation as a challenge rather than a stone wall.

Bucking "the system" realy does show who control's who, and also where all your hard earned goes to!!
I pay £5-15 a day rent & £1-07 a day electric. No mortgage, council tax (cos we move sites), no water rates and best of all no rip off utility bills. Oh my mobile is £10 a month on tesco pay as you go.

All the best.

Steve L.

 

[bakers-cottage]

Hi I can assure you its a 640eb 2005 model pictures available on blog! its not an L shape.
Yes we have done our homework, we have spent the last 6 months working things out, and as caravanning is not knew to us, do not see too many problems, upto know we have had the delights of a 1984 model van with all sorts of weird and wonderful problems to deal with, so surely it can only get better, if it needs to go into a dealership for repairs, then b&b is not an issue or for that matter a 5 star hotel! We are not doing this as we are broke, we are doing this as a way to fund a future without having to go cap in hand to banks for loans which we probably wouldnt get anyway!
As for laundry - Im afraid it goes off in a bag, a service wash is done and I collect it at the end of the day, no worries, no hassles! We dont even use our freezer at home, as we buy fresh and organic where possible, we dont eat ready meals pre frozen.
Post/mail is sorted out, I still have my lockup, which I will be back to every other day, so again, no problems with storage.
If the awning gets wet, its no great shakes, its not going to disolve over night. Yes we have an awning - just bought it, but not sure if we will use it during the winter, jury still out on that one. As far as packing up is concerned, well, we dont intend to bring the whole world with us, just what we need to function. Unless we are staying longer than 10 days the awning wont be up!
Maybe Im being very simplistic in my outlook, but so far at the ripe old age of 43 I seem to be doing ok!
We are both not the sort of people to let obstacles of any size get us down, there is always work arounds and of course compromise.
We are really looking forward to our new lifestyle, I am not blinkered to think that it will be all plain sailing, but with imagination, and a positive attitude more or less anything can be achieved!

 

[Surfer]

BTW I was not referring to a cheat freezer but rather one of those small caravan type fridge freezers. We found it very helpful and could also keep your drinks cool. You are very lucky to have youth and health on your side so I am sure you will do well. Keep us updated on this thread as time goes by. Will you be doing a trial run in the caravan prior to moving into it permanently? At least you have made a sensible choice in caravans as there are not many out ther suited for long term use.

 

[Steve L]

Good on ya.

We started in a 1983 Link 575 twin axle. It wasn't fixed bed which was a pain and we spent March to sept on a grass pitch before a gravel seasonal pitch came available.

We share the same practical thinking about the rat race.

After a search we found a 2005 Abbey 540 freestyle. Oh the luxury of a fixed bed. Its a bit shorter than your van, but we were restricted by the tow car, and as we might have to tour from farm to farm every 6 wks with my job, we had to be legal. We use an Inaca mirage awning all year. You might want to look at one of these as they are made by ex-Issabella staff. Same quality without brand badge cost's. It even stood firm this winter.

Nothing is beyond doable, it just takes a bit of forward thinking.

I would be quite happy for you to have my E-mail if you request it via the mods.

Good luck with your venture.

Atb Steve L.

 

[Parksy]

Unfortunately mods have no access to members email addresses at the moment Steve.
I'll bring this issue up with the webtechs to see what can be done about it.

 

[Steve L]

Thats a pity Parksy, the old way where you guys vetted and passed the details worked well. There you go see, my phylosophy of don't fix it if it ain't broke does apply at times.
Oh well best go back to sorting the shed out (bedroom annex), my daughter has comonderred it as her uni storage.

Atb Steve L.

 

[erica11]

Hi , Just bookmarked yr page looking forward to reading all abt yr travels etc. Have a brill time..

 

[bakers-cottage]

Thanks all, We looked at a many caravans but decided it must have a fixed bed, but OH decided and I had to agree that the island bed seemed to be the best as it took all the hassle of climbing in and out of it and making it.
Trial run - nope, just going for it as we have run out of time, any problems will have to be fixed on the hoof. Thats if there are any, we have bought the van from a reputable dealer, we know someone who has been buying their vans there for the last 40 years and no major problems so not a bad recommendation! So fingers crossed all will be well! We gave the van a good going over before we said yes, its also being fully serviced before handover.
We have bought a full size awning, (the van being 7 metres long) along with a full height bedroom extension, and full carpets, so space is not an issue. This is the only item Im not familiar with, but its only a big tent so what could possible go wrong! But as I said in my blog, if you see a big guy holding paperwork, covered in material, and looking menacing with a pole, keep back and watch from a safe distance and enjoy the specticule!
Well, back to the packing!!!

 

[Surfer]

I would strongly recommend purchasing storm straps for the awning if you have not done so already. As you have caravanned before I am assuming that you have a good supply of rock pegs however in addition to these get 6 very large pegs. One for each corner and two for the front in the middle.
Another hint is to very careful when heating the awning as you will get condensation inside the awning in the winter and this can lead to mould. It looks unsightly but in essence is not damaging but I don't think there is anyway around this. Maybe Steve has found a way to avoid the worst of it.
A small trolly for the toilet cassette is also helpful and better than humping the cassette to the Elsan point every two days especially in very cold weather. That way either one of you can do the job. Always make sure that there is room in the cassette in case you need to use it urgently during the night as nothing worse that having to empty it in the middle of the night when your stomach is acting up. Can I assume that you have two 40L water containers and a 50 L Wastehog to match up?
When towing, remove all bedding off the island bed and also the mattress topper. This is in addition to clothing hanging in the rear wardrobes. If not, you may experience some tail wagging which can be worrying. If on a B road you may find that the ride becomes quite bouncy.
The one thing we regretted not buying was a small generator due to electric constantly tripping out during the winter months. Unfortunately a battery only last x amount of time. the longest we were withou power was 2 days but then we up and chucked and went to another site about 25 miles away. Not many sites are open in the winter that are convenient to where you are locating. This is called sods law!

 

[bakers-cottage]

Hi thanks for the advice on awning, never had one before so useful information, all sorted on water/waste side, so no probs there, have been thinking about a gene, just havent got my head around it yet, so will have to look into that a bit more. We should be ok during the winter for sites, as the Dorset/Hants (new forest) area has many campsites, for all the thousands of tourists which descend upon us each year, and with caravanning becoming more popular during the winter shouldnt be too much of an issue. We have even had a closed during the winter site tell us if we ever get stuck just to give them a bell!
Well back to the painting, and trying to get the house packed, we pick up caravan next thurs, so this may well be last chance I get on here till after we are in it!
Till later.....

 

[Bellerophon]

Bakers-cottage,
I have been lurking on this site for a few days and read your post; I immediately signed up to reply.
Brilliant idea, but I would say that as I'm working on doing the same when I return to the UK following a stint overseas.
Rick1 posted a very astute piece of advice 'go for it you never know whats next in your life' and although I was saddened to read of his circumstances, I think it's great that he provides such positive encouragement.
I shall follow your blog with interest and hopefully avoid making some of the mistakes that you will inevitably make for me!
Oh, and I suspect we have both come across many armchair warriors who, whilst full of advice on why not to do something, take a negative position simply because they are too timid or unable to do what their heart tells them is right.
Best of luck

 

[Rioja]

Oh, and I suspect we have both come across many armchair warriors who, whilst full of advice on why not to do something, take a negative position simply because they are too timid or unable to do what their heart tells them is right.

I am thinking of moving into the garden shed as a trial run as I'm afraid I fall into the cautious mould.

 

[thursdays child]

bakers-cottage,I am sure there are lots of people who wish they could follow your example. It is not as if you are living in a cardboard box is it? We too have a large twin axle with fitted bed and all the same mod cons as the house.If at some point in the future our son moves out" AGAIN"we would like to rent our house out and travel full time in Hetty Heritage.As we are in our mid 60s time is at a premium so "coulda,woulda,shoulda" may be our mantra.Dont let it be yours!!!
Yes, you will have ups and downs,but you will learn very quickly.HIMSELF and I manage to get the awning up without harm to anyone.It just takes longer when you have enough canavas to sail the atlantic!!On a positive note it will all look most impressive when finished!!!
Good luck and I will follow your adventures with great interest.
You have access to a fount of knowledge on here and I am glad to see they have already offered some valuable advice.
CARRY ON REGARDLESS!!
Thursdays Child

 

[cazone]

Hi Jools and Mikki, just wanted to say, I think what you are doing is fantastic, only wish we could give it a go, but circumstances dictate otherwise. I have been reading your blog, I must say that it is very witty, and I shall follow it every step of the way. As they say, you're a long time dead, enjoy your life experiences,good luck to you both, (and the dog).I dont have any advice or tips for you, I just wanted to give you a bit of encouragement, and to say well done.
Cheers Roy.